Superintendents from Oregon's three largest school districts -- Portland, Beaverton and Salem-Keizer -- popped in for a visit with The Oregonian editorial board today. Much like the Oregon School Boards Association leaders who dropped by earlier in the day, they are heartened by the better funding proposals coming out of the Legislature but still worried about where things will all eventually land.

Adding to their list of state and local challenges is a new federal one: sequestration. Turns out sequestration is more than a food fight among faraway partisans. It also means cuts in federal funding to programs serving high-poverty and special education students. Thanks, Congress.

On Monday, the Legislature's chief Democratic budget writers released a proposed general-fund budget that includes $6.55 billion for K-12 schools plus $200 million in PERS reforms, equaling a functional budget of $6.75 billion for K-12 schools. This is a higher funding level than Gov. John Kitzhaber's recommended budget, but the proposed PERS reforms are far more modest in terms of reducing both short- and long-term costs for taxpayers.

Portland Superintendent Carole Smith says that a K-12 budget of $6.75 billion would be enough to prevent further cuts to Portland Public Schools. (PPS has a local-option levy, which helps.) Salem-Keizer Superintendent Sandy Husk says her district may still have to make cuts at that level, in part because her current budget includes furloughs and the district lacks a local-option levy. Beaverton Superintendent Jeff Rose says they'd also be forced to make some cuts at that level, unless voters pass a local-option levy in May.

All three say that boosting school funding to around $6.75 billion or higher is vitally important for preventing further systemic damage to the K-12 system. They also say they want the Legislature to be bold and comprehensive in controlling the growth in PERS pension costs -- not just to survive this budget cycle but the next one, and the one after that.

We asked: What about the risk of balancing your local budget based on state pension reforms that will be subject to litigation from public employee unions who oppose virtually every meaningful reform?

"I think it's a risk we have to take," said Husk.

Rose echoed that sentiment, and Smith added, "We have to figure this out, because this will escalate over time and it will sink us."

The three leaders also spoke briefly about recruiting and retaining teachers and principals in today's high-pressure, resource-constrained environment. Attracting high-quality teachers and supporting workplace morale involves more than compensation, Husk said. It also takes more intangible things, like a sense of support from the community and a feeling that their profession holds some public esteem.